Jemima Coleman – a senior employment lawyer at international law firm Simmons & Simmons – has been awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship to research Rights of Nature.
Rights of Nature is a developing legal framework which looks at how to assert rights for nature for its own sake and not for the extractive value it provides to humans.
Inspired by indigenous communities. Jemima will research international developments to attribute legal rights to nature – including rivers, and to develop practical ideas to support activists back in the UK to frame legal arguments to drive greater environmental protection.
The Churchill Fellowship is a longstanding and highly-respected programme of research grants offering UK citizens the chance to undertake overseas study projects related to their profession.
Jemima’s research is closely aligned with the firm’s own environmental commitments. Last year through a pro bono initiative, Simmons launched a groundbreaking whale rights law. Developed in collaboration with the Pacific Whale Fund and Ocean Vision Legal, the initiative supports governments to confer legal personhood on whales and other cetaceans.
The firm also recently hosted a conference on Rights of Nature in London.
You can read more about Jemima Coleman’s Rights of Nature scholarship here.
